Single channel programmed tape motor control for machine tools



1969 v. MILENKOVIC 3,460,044

SINGLE CHANNEL PROGRAMMED TAPE MOTOR CONTROL FOR MACHINE TOOLS Original Filed July 31, 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet l 56mm. 0 GENERATOR CHANNEL A CHANNEL 5 POWER AMPLIFIER Z2 REFERENCE RESOLVER SQUARING AMPLIFIER A SQUARING AMPLIFIER B FLIP AMPLIFIEF FLOP INVERTER A DIFFERENTIATOR AMPLIFIER INVERTER B 58 AND POLARITY SELECTOR 5 -A T- /Ln'n sa 112 FREQUENCY r1.LJ- DIVIDQMLL GATE 8 W 56 DIFFERENTIATOR DIFFERENTIATOR AND POLARITY AND POLARITY SELECTOR A SELECTOR B OBLFLJL R IR IR H 0 WEGORDIER INVENTOR- -"-r7, VELJKO MILENK IC Aug. 5, 1969 v. MILENKOVIC 3,460,044

SINGLE CHANNEL PROGRAMMED TAPE MOTOR CONTROL FOR MACHINE TOOLS Original Filed July 31. 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 E97 POLARITY SEPARATOR 96 -9 TRIGGER TRIGGER MONOSTABLE PAIR MULTIVIBRATOR 74 PULSE I sYNc. RECONSTRUCTION QSCILLATOR P P Fu FLO 402 I SINE I I DIFFERENTIATOR WAVE POLARITY SEPARATOR CONVERTER AND INVERTER fifli iggll ADJUSTABLE IEIIMEEA E IIN EEEJ MOVABLE REFERENCE MEMBER 104 RESOLVER RESOLVER III mt SQUARING 25 50% \I i AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER AMPLIFIER ND INVERTER I DIFFERENTIATOR ANTI JOG 7TH JOITJ CIRCUIT I cIRcuIT 124 I WE. E. 13'

Ear 6 CIRCUIT INTEGRATOR INVENTOR.

VELJKO MILENKOVIC SERVO AMPLIFIE m ATTORNEY.

5, 1969 v. MILENKOVIC 3,460,044

SINGLE CHANNEL PROGRAMMED TAPE MOTOR CONTROL FOR MACHINE TOOLS Original Filed July 31. 1961 7 Sheets-$heet 3 OUTPUT OF I 50 MOVABLE RESOLVER OUTPUT OF 0 034 SOUARING AMPLIFIER B OUTPUT OF I 5] DIFFERENTIATOR BB, 7

OUTPUT OF FREQUENCY olvloER} m 55 OUTPUT OF INVERTER BI W OUTPUT OF 56a 56b GATEB I J 5 44a 44b 59 OUTPUT OF I GATE A I RESOLVER SWITCH I I CLOSED OUTPUT 0F V I DIFFERENTIATOR A I I I OUTPUT OF ENCODER I I I I I OUTPUT OF GATE A RESOLVER SWITCH OUTPUT OF DIFFERENTIATOR AITT I 64a OPEN OUTPUT OF 68 ENCODER J I R 1 R 1 a FIG-3A 3 o ,1 g

mmsn PASS I I AREA AREA REFERENCE Pumas-N I INFORMATION PULSES- (INHIBITED INVENTOR VELJKO MILEN & 5 ATTORNEY PASSED Aug. 5, 1969 v. MILENKOVIC 6 SINGLE CHANNEL PROGRAMMED TAPE MOTOR CONTROL FOR MACHINE TOOLS Original Filed July 31, 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet 4.

IRIRIR RECONSTRUCTION FFOUTPUTI I l I IOZ "0N" PULSES FOR FFA R R R 406 1 R1 R1 R1 R1 R1 I08 "OFF" PULSES FOR FFA V "AUPULSE OUTPUT OF FFA- 'n ["1 W No "ON" PULSES FOR FFB-- A 1t t A /x04 14 I1 "OFF"PULSES FOR FFB V V V V V V M I "a" PULSE OUTPUT OF FFB J1 FL n I HZ i F i 6. 5A 1 V IPOSITION RECORDED ON TAPE I1 Y1 "FOSITIQYJ OF MOVABLE MEMBER DN PLAYBACK PERIOD OF FFB B --A *PERIOD OF FFA F I 6.4

p E i ON f l ENCODER PULSE LENGTH mm 3' INVENTOR 0 LJKO MILENKO L oFF-+- ON OFF ON OFF E SWITCH ct mmngarq N 0 \80 560" 540 720 BY g ANGULIR POSITION OF k H RESOLVER swncH SHAFT ATTORNEY Aug. 5, 1969 v. MILEINKQVIC 3,460,044

SINGLE CHANNEL PROGRAMMED TAPE MOTOR CONTROL FOR MACHINE TOOLS Original Filed July 31, 1961 7 Sheets*Sheet '5 mwomoowm hnmkao Aug. 5, 1969 v. MILENKOVIC 3,460,044

SINGLE CHANNEL PROGRAMMED TAPE MOTOR CONTROL FOR MACHINE TOOLS Original Filed July 31, 1961 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 OCCURRENCE OF T A IL H I 1; GATED REFERENCE PULSES LJWHJI OUT OCCURRENCE OF I I i: 5 5 INFORMATION PULSES RECONSTRUCTION in FF OUTPUT B PULSES Y 5 I Y! APULSES (A-B)ERROR SIGNAL W WITHOUT JOG COMPEN- sATIoN AFTER FULL FILTERING.

A PULSE AFTER PARTIAL FILTERING B PULSE AFTER 2 PARTIAL FILTERING (A-B)WAVE FORM 446 RESULTANT OF m INVENTOR JKO MILENK BY &

ATTORN EY 3,460,044 SINGLE CHANNEL PROGRAMMED TAPE MOTOR CONTROL FOR MACHINE TOOLS Aug. 5, 1969 v. MILENKOVIC 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Original Filed July 31, 1961 INVENTOR JKO MILENKOYIC ATTORNEY SIZE? @5533 mwomoo 16 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a system for automatically programming and controlling the position of a movable member wherein the program for the member is formulated, recorded and stored by manually guiding the movable member through a desired path of travel.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 127,971, filed July 31, 1961, now Patent No. 3,241,020.

This invention relates to automatic position control apparatus, and more particularly to a system for automatically programming and controlling the position of a movable member such as a machine member or the like.

Currently, systems providing programmed position control of movable members generally use analog or digital techniques as the basis for translating position coordinates of the movable member into information capable of being stored. Digital systems require large amounts of complex equipment to insure playback accuracy. In addition they require relatively long periods of time to set up a program of motions for the movable members to follow and repeat. Such systems are not readily adaptable to applications where both versatility of the controlled member and ability to easily and quickly change a program are required.

Conventional analog systems may utilize amplitude, frequency or phase displacement as quantity analog to the position of a moving member. Yet, such analog systems generally possess low accuracy because of the finite resolution of electrical apparatus.

If magnetic tape is used as the recording medium, the phase displacement system of position control appears most advantageous because of the limitations imposed by the medium. It is relatively easy to record both reference and position phases on a single channel if the phase excursion is limited to less than 360 electrical degrees. However, this limitation reduces the positioning accuracy if the required stroke of the movable member is large. Therefore, in such systems, two generally separate channels of the tape are utilized to control one degree of member motion. The problem associated with synchronizing such channels and compensating for tape skew between channels when discrete sine waves are recorded, places serious limitations on the accuracy of such systems.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a single channel system for automatically programming and controlling the position of movable members.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an automatic, movable member, position controlling system having means for translating the position coordinates of a movable member into pulses which are position modulated with respect to reference pulses in accordance with changes in the physical position of the controlled member.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a system for automatically programming and controlling the position of movable members in which the program for the member to repetitively follow at a ted States Patent "ice subsequent time, is set up, recorded, and stored simultaneously by manually guiding the movable member through a desired path of travel.

In general, in accordance with the invention, means are provided for detecting the instantaneous position of the movable member as it is being moved by some external, manually controlled means. Means are further provided for translating information representative of such position into position pulses suitable for storage in a memory device such as on a single channel of a magnetic tape. The present invention further contemplates means for reading out and decoding the information from such a memory storage device and means for utilizing the decoded information to generate the necessary control signals for actuating appropriate devices such as hydraulic, electrical or mechanical actuators to cause the movable member to automatically repeat the original, manually controlled motion.

The control system according to the present invention furthermore permits recording signals representative of the instant position of the movable member at one frequency rate and playing back such signals at another frequency rate. The basic position intelligence of the movable member is translated by the control system into two sets of repetitive signals.

One set, which will be called hereafter the reference pulses, occurs at regular time intervals. For example, a typical pulse interval used in practicing the invention is two milliseconds. The other set which will be known hereinafter as information pulses, and which represent the position of the movable member, occurs at substantially the same rate but their timing is offset a variable amount with respect to the reference pulses. The ratio of the offset to the toal period as esablished by any two succesive reference pulses, that is, the time lag from any reference pulse to the next succeeding information pulse divided by the time interval between two consecutive reference pulses, is in linear correspondence with the physical position coordinate of the movable member.

For example, a ratio of 0.5 in the case of the example referred to above, would be a lag of one millisecond, and may arbitrarily represent 1 /2 inches of member position, measured from a predetermined reference point. The advantage of linking the position intelligence to the timing ratio rather than to absolute time lies in the invariability of this ratio when the playback rate is altered or when it fluctuates due to imperfections of a magnetic tape recorder drive system.

During a typical motion program the oifset ratio may gradually increase until it approaches unity. At this moment the information pulses would be coincident with the reference pulses and therefore the offset ratio may be considered to be zero. Continuation of the motion would make the ratio grow from zero onward, reach unity and start from zero again. That is, therefore, a consequent ambiguity in the position intelligence with such a system in that, for each pulse configuration, there are several corresponding member positions equally spaced at some distance, e.g., three inches in the cited illustration. The correct position during the programming and playback, however, is insured by virtue of a continuous, unbroken flow of pulse information as well as physical continuity of member motion, provided that the member is correctly located at the beginning of a given operation.

To insure the necessary positional accuracy during a programming operation, it is necessary to maintain accurate timing between reference and information pulses during playback. This is achieved by recording both sets of pulses on the same tape channel and distinguishing one set from the other by polarity. However, such a method does not permit coincidence or near coincidence of two pulses, since at the point of cancel each other out.

Coincidence cancellation is eliminated in accordance with an important feature of the present invention by first inhibiting every other pulse from a selected one of the pulse trains before recording the encoded information on tape. Thus, referring again to the previous example, if every other reference pulse is removed, the reference interval between pulses becomes four milliseconds, leaving two information pulses occurring within each interval and following each other every two milliseconds. Next, means are provided such that, the first of such pulses is inhibited if it occurs less than one millisecond after the start of the reference interval, and the second pulse is utilized. On the other hand, if the first information pulse arrives later than one millisecond after the start of the reference interval then it is utilized to convey position information and the second pulse is inhibited. Thus, a minimum spacing of approximately one millisecond between any two pulses on the tape is assured. In terms of the new interval for the example given above, the pulse offset ratio can therefore vary from .25 to .75, depending upon the position of the movable member, but never any greater or less than this range. Thus, zero ambiguity can never occur.

For a better understanding of the invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of the position control programming system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of the position control, program reproducing system.

FIG. 3 is a wave form diagram of certain signals generated during operation of the position control programming system.

FIG. 3a is a wave form diagram of assistance in the exposition of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a curve showing the relationship between encoder pulse output length, and the position of the movable member resolver switch.

FIG. 5 is a wave form diagram of certain signals generated during operation of the system for reproducing a position control program.

FIG. 5a is another diagram of assistance in the exposition of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic circuit diagram, partially in block form, of the position control system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a wave form diagram of certain signals generated during the operation of the position control, program reproducing system of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic circuit diagram of a modification of a portion of the system shown in FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown in block schematic form, an electrical system for generating information concerning the instant position of a movable member 10 relative to a selected position thereof. In order to simplify the description, member 10 is symbolically illustrated as a fragmentary structure having gear teeth 12 thereon for transmitting a change position to a corresponding gear 14 which is afiixed to a shaft 16. It will be understood, however, that member 10 may be any movable structure capable of being moved along a desired path of travel, and about which it is desired to record and store information concerning the history of travel of such a member. For example, member 10 may be an automated machine tool or the movable operating portions of an article transferring apparatus of the type described in my copending application, Ser. No. 43,090, new Patent No. 3,212,649.

Affixed to shaft 16 is a suitable phase shifting device 18 effective to provide an output signal displaced in phase with reference to an input signal by an amount corresponding to the angle of rotation of the shaft 16. Such a device may be an induction resolver, which is essentially a transformer having a rotary variable coupling between primary and coincidence the pulses would secondary windings, the windings being distributed in the various stator and rotor slots in such a manner as to obtain a sinusoidal phase shift relationship between input and output voltage which is a function of angle of rotation of the rotor.

A signal generator 20, which may be a conventional oscillator, provides a source of AC voltage for operating resolver 18. Signal generator 20 has its output connected to a power amplifier 22 which in turn is connected to the input of the resolver 18, and a second adjustable resolver 24 which serves as a reference resolver for the system. Resolver 24 is initially adjusted to a selected phase displacement position. Resolver 24 is provided, in order that unwanted phase shifts in the signal output of generator 20 do not occur due to changes in the parameters of resolver 18, as, for example, changes in inductance due to ambient temperature changes. Thus, any external factors causing unwanted variations in resolver 18 will be balanced out by causing similar but opposite variations in resolver 24.

As phase shifters of the resolver type function best when the input voltage thereto is of a sine wave character, the output signal of generator 20 is preferably in the form of a sine wave. Thus, the output signal of movable member resolver 18 is a sine wave 30 displaced in phase in reference to the input thereof by an amount corresponding to the changed position of movable member 16, whereas the output of fixed or common resolver 24 is a sine wave whose phase, with respect to the input sine wave thereto, is maintained as constant as possible.

The output frequency of signal generator 20 is preferably in the audio frequency spectrum. By way of explanation of the invention, and for purposes of simplifying this description, a frequency of 500 cycles has been selected as the standard reference frequency. Such a frequency provides an alternation of one-half cycle once every millisecond.

For a better understanding of the invention, the portions of the system and component units thereof relating to the generation and utilization of reference signals, may be considered as forming a channel A, whereas that portion of the system relating to the generation and handling of information signals representative of the instant position of the movable member, may be considered as forming a channel B.

The signal outputs of resolvers 18 and 24 are each respectively fed to squaring amplifiers 26, 28 of channels A and B respectively, which may be conventional Schmitt trigger circuits. It is well known that such circuits will translate a sine wave input into a square wave output, as indicated by wave forms 30, 32 which are translated into square waves 34, 36 respectively by squaring amplifiers 26 and 28 (FIGS. 1 and 3). The square wave signal outputs of squaring amplifiers 26, 28 are then fed to corresponding amplifier inverters 38, 40, whose inverted output waves 42, 44 respectively are fed to a pair of corresponding gating circuits 46 and 48, respectively. Gating circuits 46, 48 may be conventional AND gates which receive their second and operating input from a frequency divider unit 50 which is preferably of the scaler type.

The function of the scaler frequency divider 50 is to eliminate every other pulse from the chain of pulses 42, 44 being fed to gates 46 and 48 so that the outputs thereof have their pulse frequency reduced by one-half. The frequency dividing function is accomplished by feeding pulses 34 from squaring amplifier 26 through a ditferentiator and polarity selector 52 which differentiates and transmits only the negative going wave front portions of pulses 34 to the input of frequency divider 50 forming a train of pulse spikes 51. Thus, it will be seen that if the original pulse frequency is approximately 500 cycles, then the differentiated negative going pulses 51 would have a repetitive rate of 500 cycles and would therefore be spaced substantially 2 milliseconds apart.

Frequency divider 50 is preferably a binary type scaler circuit which has either an on or off state, capable of changing from a first state to the opposite state thereof each time an input pulse is received. In this manner the output signal of frequency divider 50 is a square wave whose frequency is one-half that of the original squaring amplifier output frequency, or 250 cycles, as it is triggered on by a first one of pulses 51 and off by a second one of pulses 51.

Frequency divider 50 has two square wave output signals 53 and 54, each of which is the inverse of the other, and which are respectively transmitted to gates 46, 48. These two output signals of frequency divider 50 are adapted to turn gates 46, 48 on or off, depending upon the polarity of the pulses fed thereto.

As the frequency output of frequency divider 50 is one-half the frequency of the input signals 42, 44 applied to gates 46 and 48, then every other pulse from amplifier inverter 38, 48 fed to the first inputs of gates 46, 48, will be inhibited. This is shown in FIG. 3 for the case of channel B. The situation for channel A is slightly modified as will be described hereinafter. The resulting pulse outputs from gates 46, 48 are indicated by reference numerals 56, 59.

The output signals from each gate 46, 48 are passed through differentiator and polarity selectors S8 and 60 respectively. Here the negative going portions of the pulse wave form signals are again differentiated with the positive going portions being inhibited so that only negative pulse spikes having a spacing of four time units or four milliseconds remain, as shown in FIG. 3 for channel B pulses. The output wave forms from ditferentiator and polarity selectors 58, 60, indicated as 62, 64, are fed to the dual input of an encoder unit 66.

This unit may be a conventional flip-flop circuit having a pair of inputs which are so connected to differentiator and polarity selectors 58 and 60 that the pulse spikes of signal 62. from unit 58 turn the encoder on, whereas the pulse spikes of signal 64, from unit 60, turn the encoder off by flipping it in the opposite direction. The output signal 68 of encoder 66 is then a square wave which is turned on by the information pulses from channel B indicating the relative position of the movable member 10 and turned off by reference pulses from channel A.

It will be become readily apparent that during the course of travel of movable member 10, positions will be reached which, when expressed in terms of the position of encoder actuating pulse signals 62 and 64, will result in coincidence of these two pulses of opposite polarity, thus causing cancellation of each other, and zero output of flip-flop 66. As will be described in detail below, this null or coincidence ambiguity may be eliminated by establishing arbitrary limits around each pulse of a first selected pulse train signal such as either signal 62 or 64, which set up a timing area into which no pulse from the second signal of the opposite channel can lie. For example, within the certain designated areas, the information pulses may be inhibited so that the coincidence problem can never occur.

This is illustrated in FIG. 311, wherein the spacing between succeeding reference pulses is arbitrarily divided into four equal time intervals of one millisecond each, and one of each such intervals on either side of a reference pulse is designated as an inhibit area. It will be seen that, by means of the system about to be described, any information pulses 62 occurring in channel B which have a time relationship with respect to the reference pulses such that they occur within the inhibit area, will not be passed to encoder 66. If the arbitrary inhibit area comprises one-half of the total time interval between successive reference pulses, or 2 milliseconds, then the resultant output of encoder 66 is a train of square waves 68, whose length is no less than one-quarter of a period and no greater than three-quarters of a period between successive reference pulses.

In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the inhibit and pass areas are defined by operation of a switch 70, driven by shaft 16, and having a pair of contacts connected to gate 48 of channel A. Switch 70 may be a conventional cam operated switch which opens and closes a pair of contacts once every degrees of shaft rotation. Therefore, for every revolution of shaft 16, switch 70 has an equally divided on or off period. The switch contacts of switch 70 are connected to gate 48 in such a manner that the gate is rendered inoperative when the contacts are open and operative when closed. The circuit details of this arrangement will be described hereinafter.

The inhibitation area may be set up about either the reference pulses or the information pulses since both pulse trains are identical in frequency and magnitude but differ only in their phase displacement with respect to each other. Thus, switch 70 may be connected to either gate 46 or 48 to effect the desired result. For purposes of simplifying the description, and in accordance with a practical embodiment of the invention, it is shown in FIG. 1 and described hereafter, as controlling gate 48 of reference channel A.

When gate 48 of channel A is rendered inoperative by operation of switch 70, which, in turn, depends upon the position of shaft 16 and movable member 10, then the pulses 54 from the output of frequency divider 50 are also prevented from operating this gate. When the gate is in this condition, the output of frequency divider 58' has no effect thereon, and all input pulses 44 from amplifier-inverter 40 are passed therethrough and presented as pulses having wave form 59a to the input of differentiator and polarity selectors 60. Thus, by operation of frequency divider 50, gate 46 will consistently cancel every other pulse from pulse train 42 so that its output wave form is always as shown by pulse train 56 whereas gate 48 will or will not cancel every other pulse 44 received thereby, according to whether machine switch 70' is on or olf. The output wave form from gate 48 will then take the form of pulse train 59 or 590, depending upon the condition of switch 70.

Whether the discrete pulses of each signal passing through each channel, such as the pulse of signals 34, 36, are more or less than a quarter of .a period apart is, then, a function of the position of movable member 10, since the relative position of the sets of pulses is derived from a phase displacement provided by resolver 18. This is a fact which can be readily detected by cam operated switch 70. Thus, if movable member 10 is in such a position that the switch is closed, the relationship between the reference and information pulses is such that the lag or phase displacement therebetween is less than one quarter of a period. Conversely, if the switch contacts are open, then the lag is greater than one quarter of a period and the gating unit 48 is inoperative. Consequently, there is no rejection of any of the raw reference pulses 36 or 44. In this situation the pulse output of gate 48 would be as shown in FIG. 1 and indicated by reference number 59a.

In this instance, all of the pulses from channel A forming waveform 59a are fed to encoder 66. Inasmuch as the first occurring information pulse 62 turns on encoder 66, then the next reference pulse to be received by encoder 66 will turn it off. Thus, even though a second reference pulse occurs within a half period after the first reference pulse, it will have no effect upon encoder 66 as it has already been turned off by the previously received reference pulse. Accordingly, when switch 70 is open, indicating that certain of the reference pulses 64 are occurring later than one-quarter of a period after information pulses 62 and less than three-quarters of a period after pulse 62, all of these pulses which are occurring at twice the frequency rate of pulses 62, are fed to encoder 66.

The two states of resolver switch 70, closed and open, and their effect upon the pulse train output of channel A, is graphically illustrated in FIG. 3. Assume that the information pulses 56 from gate 46 have a time distribution as shown in FIG. 3, curve 6. Then if resolver switch 70 is closed, every other pulse of reference pulse train signal 44, such as pulse 44a, has a time spacing less than a quarter of a period from at least one pulse in pulse train 56, such as 56a. Since switch 70 is closed, gate 48 of channel A is operative. Pulse 44a falls Within the inhibiting period of the gate, resulting in no output during the time period represented by pulse 44a. On the other hand, the next succeeding pulse 44b is passed by gate 48 as it is outside the inhibit area, and results in a wave form 59 as shown in FIG. 3. It will be seen that pulse 44b is greater than a quarter of a period away from the trailing edge of pulse 56b. Encoder 66 will accordingly be turned on by the pulses of signal 62, derived by differentiating the trailing edges of pulses 56a, 56b, etc., and turned off by pulses 64 derived by differentiating the trailing edge of pulse 44b and following pulses of signal 59.

In the case where resolver switch 70 is open" (FIG. 3), then pulses 44a, 44b are passed freely by gate 48, inasmuch as the trailing edges of all of pulses 44a, 4411 are greater than a quarter of a period away from the trailing edges of pulses 56a, 56b. Thus, the pulse train output 59a from gate 48 is differentiated by difterentiator 60 and applied to encoder 66 as pulse train 64a. The resulting pulse output of encoder 66 is as shown in FIG. 3. It will be noted that since the first pulse received from differentiator 60 of channel A will turn off encoder 66, then the next succeeding differentiated pulse from ditferentiator and polarity selector 60 will have no effect upon encoder 66 as it is already off. This latter pulse is effectively discarded.

The relationship between the angular position of shaft 16 of resolver 18, the on and off periods of switch 70, and the length of the on period of the output pulses of encoder 66, expressed as a fractional length of the total on period available, is shown in FIG. 4. It will be seen that the pulse on period varies with position of shaft 16 between a minimum of one-quarter of a period and a maximum of three-quarters of a period. As soon as either limit is reached, the pulse length jumps quickly from maximum to minimum or vice versa, depending upon the direction of rotation of shaft 16.

The output of encoder 66 may be fed to a suitable pulse storage device such as a magnetic tape recorder 71 provided it is capable of recording a rectangular wave having on and off, or binary characteristics. In the case of magnet tape recording the polarity of the flux of the magnetic recording medium, of course, is merely changed from one direction to another. If desired, conventional frequency shift techniques may be used to provide a signal more suitable for recording than feeding the encoder output directly to a magnetic tape recorder. That is, the encoder signal may be used to frequency modulate an audio oscillator, so that the on portions of signal 68 are characterized by a first audio frequency, whereas the off portions are characterized by a second audio frequency. Such signals are more adaptable for recording by medio other than magnetic tape. For example, disc or film recording may be used. Conventional demodulators may be provided to convert the tone signals back into on, off signals during the playback operation.

A major advantage of the present invention for recording change of position is the fact that all of the informa tion necessary for recording and reproducing smoothly a change in position of a movable member can be handled by a single recording channel. The necessity for a second, or reference frequency channel is eliminated since it will be appreciated that both the reference and change of position information is represented by the ratio between the on and off time of the recorded pulses.

Thus, by generating and recording in the manner just described, a continuous train of such pulses, a complex program of movement for member 10 may be stored for future use.

When the present invention is used to indicate change of position of a movable member which is operating in conjunction with several other movable members, or when a single member is being moved simultaneously through several degrees of freedom, pulse information concerning each of these movements may be stored in associated channels. Therefore, several channels of information may be recorded simultaneously on a single magnetic media, such as a wide band magnetic tape used in conjunction with a multiple head tape recorder. For example, the system comprising the present invention may be used in conjunction with a plurality of such systems to sense and control the position of a movable member having several degrees of freedom such as the movable arm of a gripping and transfer device of the type described in copending application, S.N. 43,090. Thus, recorder 71 is shown in FIG. 1 as having several channels for recording control signals for other movable members or for several degrees of freedom of motion for a single member.

In addition, it is advantageous to provide a utility signal channel which receives a reference frequency signal. Such a signal is useful on playback to provide a source of synchronizing pulses at reference frequency, or may control other functions of associated devices. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 1, square Wave signals 69 of reference frequency are generated by a flip-flop circuit 72 connected to the output of squaring amplifier 28 of channel A, and are fed to channel 0 of recorder 71.

The program playback system for controlling the position of movable member 10 will now be generally described. In its broadest aspects, the playback system provides a pulse signal derived from the recorded encoder signal, and representing the desired positions of the movable member at a given instant. Means associated with the system provide a second pulse signal, representative of the actual position of the movable member at the given instant. The two signals are compared, an error voltage representing the difference between these signals is obtained, and the error signal is fed to a servo mechanism which drives the movable member in the proper direction to null the error signal.

With reference to FIG. 2, the output signal from reference frequency channel 0 of recorder 71, comprising square waves occurring at the reference frequency, is fed to a flip-flop circuit 72 which, in turn, is connected to monostable multivibrator 74. As only the rate of change of flux in the magnetic tape is detected by conventional recording heads, then only differentiated square waves, that is, positive and negative spikes, are detected by the recording pickup heads during playback. Thus, the output signal from the recorder playback channels must be retranslated into square waves to perform useful functions.

Accordingly, the positive and negative spikes 97 occurring at the reference frequency, trigger flip-flop circuit 72 so as to provide an output signal therefrom having a square wave characteristic. The output signal 99 of flipfiop circuit 72 is fed to a monostable multivibrator 74 where the signals are additionally shaped and squared. Monostable multivibrator 74 also serves to remove from output signal 99, unwanted signal components, not of reference frequency, allowing only synchronizing pulses for the reference frequency to be retained. The output of multivibrator 74 is connected to a sync oscillator 76, with the pulses from multivibrator 74 serving to trigger and lock in sync oscillator 76 to the reference frequency.

Sync oscillator 76 will continue to produce output pulses even if synchronizing pulses are lost because of tape drop-out, which is an unwanted characteristic of magnetic tape recording. Sync oscillator 76 is preferably adjusted as close to the reference frequency as possible. The

9 pulse outputfrom the sync oscillator is fed to the sine wave converter 78 which may be a convenional class C amplifier, the characteristics of which serve to round the square pulse output of sync oscillator 76 into corresponding sine waves.

The output of converter 78 is connected to movabble member resolver 18 and adjustable reference resolver 24 so that sine wave signals 101 may be fed thereto as an operating signal at reference frequency. These resolvers are preferably the same units used during the program recording operation. As will be pointed out in more detail hereinafter, resolvers 18, 24 may be switched between the record and playback units so as to function during both operations. Since a number of the circuit elements, in addition to the resolvers, perform the same functions during record and playback, like reference numerals are used in this description to indicate any such units.

Thus, the outputs of resolvers 18 and 24 are connected to squaring amplifiers 26, 28 which may be Schmitt trigger circuits as in the recording system. The output signals from squaring amplifiers 26, 28, now in the form of square waves, are fed through amplifier-inverters 38, 40, to difierentiators and polarity separators 80 and 82, respectively. The outputs of differentiators 80 and 82 are connected to a pair of flip-flop circuits 84 and 86, respectively designated as flip-flops B and A. The polarity of the output waveform spikes 114, 108 from differentiator and polarity separators 80, 82 is selected so that the outputs from these units will turn off their respectively associated flip-flop circuits 84, 86 as will be described in more detail hereinafter.

Connected to the output of the position information channel 1 of recorder 71 is a polarity separator 88 which separates into positive and negative going waveform spikes 96, 98, the differentiated information and reference pulses of signal 97, derived from the recorded output pulses 68 of encoder 66. Spike pulse trains 96, 98 are then fed to trigger pairs 90 and 92, respectively. Trigger pair circuits 90, 92 provide pulses of constant amplitude for triggering a pulse reconstruction flip-flop circuit 94 to which trigger pairs 90, 92 are connected.

The purpose of reconstruction flip-flop 94 is to provide sharp and uniform square wave pulse signals with unvarying amplitude. A common problem in the recovery of square wave pulses from magnetic tape storage devices, is that the pulses, in differentiated form, vary in amplitude over a long time period and in fact often result in pulse drop-out, a phenomenon in which one or more pulses completely disappear altogether from the tape. It will be appreciated that in order for the mov able member to 'move smoothly and under exact control at all times, the pulse wave form 68 containing the information and reference wave forms must be completely reconstructed as an exact replica of the originally recorded Wave form. By using trigger pairs 90, 92 instead of the difierentiated pulses 96, 98 themselves to trigger reconstruction flip-flop 94, greater reconstruction accuracy is achieved.

An additional advantage resulting from the reconstruction of pulse train 68 by means of flip-flop circuit 94 lies in the fact that if pulses are lost during the recording process, they are lost in matched pairs. Thus, erratic operation resulting from responses by the system to spurious pulses is prevented. That is, if one of the pulses from the polarity separated trains 96 and 98 is lost, then the next succeeding pulse, which is of opposite polarity, will have no effect upon pulse reconstruction flip-flop 94. This will be readily apparent when the inherent operation of a bi-stable multivibrator such as an Eccles- Iordan flip-flop circuit, which may be used as a pulse reconstructor, is considered.

For example, if the flip-flop circuit 94 is flipped in one direction upon reception of a pulse from trigger pair 90, but the next succeeding pulse is missing from trigger pair 92, then the flip-flop circuit will stay flipped in the state set by the last received pulse 96. If the next succeeding pulse is a pulse from trigger pair it will have no eifect upon flip-flop circuit 94, as it has already been flipped in the direction represented by such a pulse. In effect, then, flip-flop circuit 94 acts as though the corresponding pulse from trigger pair 90 was also lost. It will not flip into another state until a pulse from trigger pair 92 is received.

The output of pulse reconstruction flip-flop 94 is connected to a differentiator, polarity separator and inverter unit 100. As the output signal 102 from pulse reconstruction flip-flop 94 is composed of square waves which are replicas of pulse train 68, the trailing edges of these square waves are converted into pulses by being differentiated, separated into positive and negative going spikes and then channeled into separate branches so that they may be properly utilized in ultimately guiding movable member 10 to repeat smoothly a desired program. Thus, the trailing edges of the square wave pulses comprising pulse train signal 102,-are so processed by unit and fed from dual outputs thereof into one of the inputs of each of flip-flops 84, 86. The output pulse spike wave forms of unit 100 are indicated generally by reference numerals 104, 106, with each pulse being identified as I and R, respectively. The wave forms of these and the other pulses generated in the playback system are pictorially represented in FIG. 5.

Pulse train signal 106, which comprises a train of pulse spikes representative of the program reference pulses and designated as R pulses, is fed into the input of flip-flop A, designated by reference numeral 86, which has its input so connected that it is turned on by each of the reference pulses of signal 106. Pulse train signal 104, which comprises pulses representative of the originally programmed information pulses and designated as I pulses, is fed into the input of flip-flop B, designated by reference numeral 84, which is similar in construction and operation to flipflop A. The input to flip-flop B is so connected that the pulses received thereby serve to turn that flip-flop on. It will be noted that the pulse spikes comprising both pulse train signals 104, 106, have a repetition rate of approximately 250 cycles per second and are spaced from each other, 4 milliseconds in time.

The sine wave outputs of resolvers 18, 24 are again converted into square wave forms by squaring amplifiers 26 and 28. The trailing edges of the square Wave output signals from amplifiers 26, 28 are amplified and inverted by units 38, 40, and differentiated by difierentiators 80 and 82, respectively. The resulting output pulse spikes are generally shown as signals 108, 114, each pulse thereof being designated as R and I respectively. Signals 108, 114 are fed to inputs of flip-flops 84 and 86, which are connected in such a manner that I pulses received from difierentiator 80 turn off fiip-flop B, whereas R pulses received from differentiator and polarity separator 82 turn off flip-flop A.

The resulting output signal from flip-flop A comprises a train of square waves known hereinafter as the A pulses, the leading edges thereof corresponding to reference pulses from pulse train 106 and the trailing edges thereof corresponding to reference pulses from pulse train 108, which can be said to have originated from adjustable resolver 24. Thus, the output of A flip-flop 86 is actually being controlled by the originally recorded reference sig nal pulses and by the reference signal generated by the adjustable reference rresolver 24. In a like manner, the output signal of B flip-flop 84 is in the form of a square wave pulse train 112 and is known hereinafter as the B pulses. The leading edges of the B pulses correspond to the I information pulses of pulse signal 104, while the trailing edges correspond to the new I inormation pulses 114, which may be said to have originated from the output of movable resolver 18.

It will be noted that both the R and I off turning pulses have a repetition rate of 500 cycles and thus have a spacing period only half as long as the on pulses supplied indirectly by the recorded program signal 95.

The derivation of an error signal by algebraically adding the A and B pulses (preferably subtracting the A from the B pulses), such a signal representing the difference between the desired and actual position of movable member 10 during playback of a program, will now be described with reference to FIG. 5.

As mentioned heretofore, during the playback operation, there is no frequency division of the square wave resolver output signal pulses, nor are gating units or a switch member 70 employed as in the program recording system. Yet, as differentiated pulses R comprising pulse train 108 and pulses I comprising pulse train 114 are derived from only the respective positive and negative going wave front portions of pulse trains 108, 114, these differentiated pulses have a two millisecond or one-half of a period spacing between successive pulses in each train.

By carefully adjusting the phase of the output sine wave from adjustable reference resolver 24 with respect to the sine wave input fed thereto from sine wave converter 78, the on time of each of the A pulse signals from flipflop 86 is set at one millisecond or one-quarter of a period. That is, the phase between the R reference pulses derived from the recorded program forming pulse train 106, and reference pulses R derived from reference resolver 24 during playback is, by means of resolver adjustment, set to one-quarter of a period. Then, whenever each B pulse of signal 112 is, when compared with an A pulse, equal to one-quarter of a period, the error between the actual and desired position of movable member 10 will be zero. In other words, E (error) =BA. This is shown graphically in FIG. 5a.

Let P (the desired position recorded on the tape): the pulse length IR.

Let P (the actual position of movable member on playback) :1 R

Then, by definition However, as will be seen from FIG. in, by geometry...

B+P =A+P then Error=B-A A feature of the present invention is that, by means of the error derivation system just described, the error signal is relatively independent of slight phase shifts in the primaries of the resolvers 18, 24. Thus, if the sine wave being regenerated from the recorded signal should become slightly displaced in phase, the primaries and secondaries of the resolvers would see a similar phase displacement. But, since signals derived from the secondary output signals of the resolvers turn off both the A and B pulses, any shift in phase will result in an equal change in length of both the A and B pulses. Upon subtraction of A from B, an error signal results which is independent of the individual length of the A or B pulse.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the A and B pulse trains 110 and 112, respectively, are fed into an algebraic addition circuit 116 which subtracts the A pulses from the B pulses. The output pulses from adder circuit 116, resulting from the subtraction, are fed to a conventional integrating circuit 118 which provides an output in the form of a relatively stable DC voltage representative of the average error. This output voltage is fed to the input of a servo amplifier 120. The amplifier output voltage of servo amplifier 120 may be used to provide a control signal for a conventional servo mechanism 122, linked to movable member 10 in such a manner that it drives the member in a direction to diminish the positional error. Thus, it causes member 10 to follow the programmed information contained in the information storage media. Servo mechanism 122 may be an electrical, hydraulic, or mechanical servo valve mechanism as desired.

Referring again to the pulse diagrams of FIGS. 3 and 4, it will be observed that when the output signal 68 of encoder 66 has an on" pulse length substantially equal to three-quarters of a period, the pulse length suddenly jumps back to one-quarter of a period in length. Con versely, if the pulse length as defined by point I and R, is diminishing towards the one-quarter of a period length, indicative of movement of member 10 in a given direction, the length of the on periods of pulses 68 will jump to three-quarters when the one-quarter period length has been reached. This, of course, is due to the action of switch 70 as described above. When these transition points are reached, heavy transient switching shocks occur during playback which cannot be smoothed completely by integrator circuits 118. Accordingly, to prevent the transmission of undesirable bumps or jogs to servo mechanism 122, anti-jog circuits 124, 126 are provided which perform additional smoothing and effectively remove the pulse length switching transients from the system. Anti-jog circuits 124, 126 will be described in detail in the course of the description of the circuit diagram of FIG. 6.

Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a detailed schematic circuit diagram of the novel features of the record and playback units of the control system of the present invention. For purposes of simplifying the disclosure of the present invention, the circuit details of certain conventional units, such as the Schmitt trigger circuits comprising squaring amplifiers 26, 28, flip-flop circuits, sine wave oscillators, trigger pairs, are not shown in FIG. 6. As these circuit units are well known in the art, the details thereof are omitted from the drawings.

Signal generator 20, which may be any suitably stabilized sine wave oscillator capable of producing sine waves of good wave form at 500 cycles per second, has its output amplified by amplifier 22 and fed through record, playback switch 23 to the input terminals 200 of resolver 18. The sine wave output of resolver 18, displaced in phase, with respect to the input signal appearing on terminals 200, in proportion to the degree of rotation of rotor 202, is fed to squaring amplifier 26 and to a voltage divider circuit 204. Voltage divider circuit 204 comprises resistors 206, 208, 210, 212, and a filter capacitor 214, connected in the manner shown between a source of positive voltage 201 and ground. Resistor 210 is adjustable. Voltage divider circuit 204 provides bias adjusting means to insure that the Schmitt trigger circiut, comprising squaring amplifier 26, operates at points of true zero cross-overs of the sine wave signal output of resolver 18.

The input electrode of electron tube 216 of inverter amplifier 38 is connected to the output of squaring amplifier 26 through a parallel connected resistor, capacitor combination 218, 220 respectively, which serve to compensate for the input capacitance of tube 216. The pulses of pulse signal 34 are therefore amplified and inverted by tube 216 and are fed to switch terminal 224 of gang switch 222, a double pole multi-throw switch shown in FIG. 6 in the record position.

Also connected to the output of power amplifier 22 is the primary of reference resolver 24. The sine wave output of resolver 24 is fed to the input of squaring amplifier 28, the output of which is connected, through a voltage dividing and compensating netwirk, comprising resistors 246, 248 and capacitor 250, to the input electrode of electron tube 252 of amplifier inverter 40. Square wave pulse signal 36 is inverted by the operation of electron tube 252 and is fed from the output thereof to terminal 254 of gang switch 222.

Polarity separator and differentiator 52 comprising capacitance 226 and diodes 228, 230 are also connected to the output of squaring amplifier 26. By means of capacitance 226, functioning in conjunction with the output impedance of squaring amplifier 26, the square waves of pulse train 34 are differentiated to form the required spikelike pulses 51. Diodes 228 and 230 are connected to ter minals 232, 234, respectively of gang switch 222 in such a manner that only the negative going spikes of wave form 51 are passed. Resistances 236 and 238 are connected in series between a source of suitable positive voltage and ground to provide, in conjunction with series resistor 240, a positive bias for diodes 228 and 230. Thus, only negative spikes of a magnitude sufficient to overcome the positive bias upon the diodes will be passed thereby.

When the wiper arms of gang switch 222 are in a record position, the negative going pulses 51 are transmitted to terminals 242, 246 of switch 222, to which are connected the input terminals of frequency divider 50 which may be a conventional bi-stable multi-vibrator, or flip-flop dividing circuit. Although it would appear that pulses of the same magnitude and polarity are being fed simultaneously to frequency divider 50 and therefore would apparently render it inoperative, yet it will be remembered that the sensitivity of conventional Eccles-Jordan flip flop circuits is greater with respect to a source of input voltage which tends to change its state, than from a source which tends to maintain the circuit in its present state. Thus, frequency divider 50 will flip in the direction which allows it to flip from one state to another, even though identical pulses are received simultaneously at both inputs.

Connected between terminals 224 and 254 respectively, of switch 222 and a source of positive voltage 201, are diodes 256, 258 which provide a clamp level for the output pulse trains 42, 44 of amplifier inverter units 38 and 40 respectively. The diodes 256, 258 are connected with a polarity such that only positive going portions of pulse train 42 and 44 are passed to switch wiper arms 224 and 254 respectively. Pulse trains 42 and 44 are thus fed through switch contacts 260 and 262 respectively, and through isolating resistors 264, 266 to record contacts 268, 270 of switch 222. When wiper arms 272 and 274 of switch 222 are in a record position so as to engage contacts 268 and 27 respectively, the pulse output of inverters 38 and 40 would be fed in an unchanged condition through differentiating capacitors 58 and 60 directly to encoder 66 were it not for the operation of gating circuits 46 and 48, which will now be described in detail.

The output pulses of frequency divider 50, which operate the gating circuits, are fed from output switch terminals 276, 278, connected to the movable arms of switch 222, and through contacts 286, 282 respectively, when switch 222 is in a record position, through resistors 284, 286 to the input electrodes of electron tubes 288 and 290 of gating circuits 46, 48 respectively. The cathodes of electron tubes 288 and 280 are clamped to the same pulse base voltage as terminal 224, by the action of diode 292 which is connected between the cathodes and the source of positive voltage 201. As the output electrodes of tubes 288 and 290 are respectively connected to isolating resistors 264 and 266, then when tubes 28-8 and 290 are conducting, terminals 294 and 296 are effectively placed, by the action thereof, at the clamp voltage. Thus, the outputs of amplifier inverters 38, 40 are electrically shorted when tubes 288 and 290 are in a conducting condition.

A source of positive biasing potential for the input electrode of tube 288 is provided by means of connections through resistor 298 to source of positive voltage 201. The magnitude of resistor 298 is adjusted so that the square wave pulses of pulse train 53, when operating in a positive direction, are of sufficient magnitude to cause tube 288 to conduct and thus cutoff the pulse output 42 from inverter 38 during the conducting periods. It will be remembered that the frequency of pulse train 53 is onehalf that of pulse train 42. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, every other pulse of pulse train 42 is inhibited or gated out, and assumes the form shown by the reference numeral 56.

Biasing potential for the input electrode of tube 290 is provided by means of resistors 300 and 302 connected in series to positive source 201. However, contacts 304 of cam operated switch 70 are serially connected between resistors 300, 302 so that the positive biasing potential is applied to the input electrode of valve 290 only when switch contacts 304 are closed. When these contacts are closed, the square wave pulses of pulse train signal 54 from frequency divider 50 operate in the same manner as the pulses from pulse train signal 53 to alternately render tube 290 conducting and non-conducting. Thus, pulse train signal 44 has every other pulse 44a inhibited during the positive pulse periods of pulse signal 54, provided switch contacts 304 are closed. In this case, the output wave form of gate 48 assumes that shown as pulse train 59 of FIG. 3. However, if switch contacts 304 are opened, the bias potential is removed from tube 290 and it is rendered non-conducting, regardless of the magnitude of the pulses of pulse train 54, so that the gate is ineffective or in an open condition. In this situation the pulse output of gate 48 is that shown by pulse signal 59a (FIG. 3).

As mentioned heretofore, the significant portions of the output pulses from amplifier inverters 38, 40 are the trailing edges of the pulses comprising pulse signals 42, 44, as these are the edges which are differentiated by differentiators 58 and 60 respectively. In order to insure that only the trailing edges of these pu ses are fed to capacitor dilferentiators 58, 60, the positive going edges of the pulses of signals 42, 44 are deliberately rounded. This is accomplished by providing electron tubes 216 and 252 with anode resistors 306, 308 which are of a high magnitude, at least one megohm or more. These resistors, operating in conjunction with the distributed capacities of tubes 2'16, 252 serve to slow down the rise time of these pulses. By this action of rounding the leading edges of the pulses, polarity separation between the leading and trailing edges of the pulses forming signals 56 and 58, being fed to encoder 66 is achieved as only the steep trailing edges of the pulses are effectively differentiated by capacitors 58 and 60.

Since encoder 66 comprises a conventional flip-flop circuit, turned on by the differentiated pulses of Wave train 62, which comprise the information pulses I, and turned off by differentiated pulses 64 or 64a, which comprise the reference pulses R, the signal therefrom is in the form of square wave signal 68 which is fed through a capacitor 310 and voltage dividing resistors 312, 314 to output lead 316, which may be connected to any suitable recording device 71.

The channel 0 reference frequency, sync signal is generated as described in connection with FIG. 1, by units 20, 22, 24, 28 and flip-flop 72. The output of flip-flop is connected through record, playback switch to input terminal 0 of recorder 71.

The circuit details of the playback circuit will now be described. It is the general function of the playback circuitry to translate the tape signal output provided by recoder 71, containing the encoded information and reference pulses, and the signals derived from the reference resolver 24 and movable resolver 18, into the A and B pulses as generally described above in connection with FIG. 2. The error due to the incorrect position of movable member 10, with respect to the desired position as expressed by the programmed signals on the tape, is represented by the difference between the A and B pulses. The error signal and its complement of opposite polarity are fed to a push-pull servo amplifier to the output of which is connected actuating coil of a hydraulic servo valve.

Referring again to FIG. 6, to initiate the playback operation, ganged switch 222 is thrown to the playback posi tion so that all of its actuating arms or wiping fingers engage contacts designated as P. In a like manner, switches 23 and 73 are also thrown to the playback position. During playback, the control signal for resolvers 18, 24 is derived from the square wave sync signal stored in chan- 15 nel of recorder 71. As described above in connection with FIG. 2, this signal is translated into sine waves of the operating frequency of 500 cycles by means flip-flop 72, monstable multivibrator 74, sync oscillator 76 and sine wave converter 78. These units are conventional elements, and are not shown in detail in FIG. 6.

The output signal 30 of resolver 18, which provides a signal representative of the actual position of movable member 10, is fed to squaring amplifier 26, amplified and inverted by amplifier 38 connected to squaring amplifier 26 and, through contacts 224 and 318 of switch 222, it is transmitted to differentiating capacitor 80. After being differentiated by capacitor 80, the output signal of channel B is in the form of the spiked pulses I comprising wave form 114. These pulses are fed to one input of flip-flop B designated as 84, through contacts 320 and 242 of switch 222, and provide the off pulses for this unit, thereby defining the trailing edge of the B pulses.

In like manner, the output of reference resolver 24 is again fed to squaring amplifier 28 where the output signal is translated into square waves, and amplified by amplifier inverter 40. The output signal of amplifier 40 is transmitted to differentiating capacitor 82 through contacts 254 and 322, 324 and 274 of switch 222. After differentiating, the reference signal of channel A comprises the spiked pulses R forming pulse train 108. These pulses are fed to one input of flip-flop A, designated as 86, and provide the off pulses for this unit, thereby defining the trailing edge of the A pulses.

The I and R or on pulses for flip-flops A and B are reconstructed on playback in the following manner:

The output of program channel 1 of tape recorder 71 is fed to a polarity separator 88 connected to input terminal 326 through capacitor 328. Polarity separator 88 may be conventional triode 330 having equal anode and cathode resistors 332, 334 respectively, so that equal voltages of opposite polarity are developed thereacross. The pulse outputs of polarity separator 88 are fed to trigger pairs 90 and 92 respectively. The uniform pulse output signals of these units are in turn fed to the two inputs of reconstruction flip-flop circuit 94 through coupling capactors 336 and 338.

Reconstruction flip-flop circuit 94, as is true of all flip-flop circuits, has two outputs, one of which is the inverse polarity of the other. One set of output signals from flip-flop circuit 94 is fed through a differentiating capacitor 340 and through terminal 342 and 244 of switch 222 to the other input of flip-flop B (84) which pulses, as will be remembered in connection with the description of FIG. 2, serve to form the I or on" pulses 104 for this flip-flop unit, thereby defining the leading edge of the B pulses. Likewise, the other output of reconstruction flip-flop 94 supplies pulses of opposite polarity through contacts 344, 272 of which 222, and differentiating capacitor 58 to the other input of flip-flop A (86). The differentiated pulse output of capacitor 58 comprises the R or on pulses 106 for unit 86, and thereby defines the leading edge of the A pulses. Differentiating capacitors 58 and 340, when considered in conjunction with the dual outputs of reconstruction flip-flop 94, serve to form the unit generally indicated in FIG. 2 as ditferentiator and polarity separator and inverter 100.

The algebraic addition of the A and B pulses, and the integration of the results of such addition to provide a servo valve operating signal will now be described.

One of the desirable features of the present invention is that the servo valve operating coils 420 are actuated by a balanced, push-pull type of circuit. Therefore, in order to implement this condition, both opposite polarity outputs of flip-flops 84 and 86 are utilized. Thus, output signals of a first polarity of A pulse wave form 110 are fed through contacts 346 and 348 of switch 222, and through series connected resistors 350 and 352 to junction point 354. This point is returned to ground through resistor 355. The line connecting contact 348 to resistor 350 is designated as the l-A conductor. The A pulses of opposite polarity are fed through contacts 356 and 358 of switch 222, and through series connected resistors 360' and 362 to junction point 364. The feeder line thus formed is designated in the drawings as -A. Junction point 364 is returned to ground through fixed and variable resistors 363 and 365.

In a like manner, bot-h outputs of flip-flop 84 are utilized to supply and B pulses respectively, to junction points 354 and 364. Thus, a feed line designated as +B is established for feeding pulses of a first polarity comprising B pulse wave form 112 through contacts 278 and 366 of switch 222, and through series connected resistors 368 and 370 to junction point 364. A B pulse feed line, so designated, is established by utilizing the second output of opposite polarity from flip-flop 84 to feed B pulses through contacts 276 and 372 of switch 222 and through series connected resistors 374 and 376 to junction point 354. Accordingly, the +A and B pulses are added at junction point 354, whereas the A and +B pulses are added at junction point 364.

As no known servo valve can respond to individual pulses occurring at a frequency as high as 250 cycles per second, the results of the algebraic addition of the A and B pulses at junction points 354, 364 are integrated to provide a voltage representative of the average of a number of (A-B) and (A-B) pulses. As the error increases or decreases, the average will vary likewise so that this analogue voltage may be amplified and utilized to operate an electromechanical servo valve.

Therefore, the two sets of A pulses of opposite polarity are partially integrated by means of serially connected capacitor 378 and resistor 380, connected between the junction points of resistors 350, 352 and 360, 362 respectively. Likewise, the B pulses are partially integrated by means of serially connected capacitors 382 and resistor 384, connected between junction points of resistors 374, 376 and 368, 370 respectively. Partial integration is performed in order not to deteriorate the response time of the system.

The partially integrated results of the algebraic addition performed at junction points 354 and 364 are applied to the input grids of dual triodes 386 and 388 through ganged potentiometers 390 and 392. These potentiometers have an end connected to each other through a resistor 394. Across the other ends of potentiometers 390, 392 is connected a capacitor 396. This capacitor-resistor network serves to perform complete integration of the A and B pulses by integrating the results of the algebraic addition of such pulses after the addition has been performed. Potentiometers 390 and 392 serve to adjust the gain of the servo system and are ganged so that the symmetry of the circuit is preserved.

The movable arms of the potentiometers are each connected to respective input grids of dual triode amplifiers 386 and 388, whereby the essentially DC signals resulting from the complete integration of the A and B pulses are fed thereto. These triodes are connected in a cathode follower type of circuit with resistors 398, 400, connected to cathodes thereof, serving as cathode output resistances.

A conventional wein bridge network is also connected to the cathodes of triodes 386 and 388. It will be recognized that the wein bridge generally indicated as 402 is a double Wien bridge network, one for each cathode circuit of the dual triodes. The property of the network is to modify the output signals of the cathode followers in such a way as to discriminate against frequencies which will tend to make the servo system unstable. In particular, such frequencies are obtained by actual tests and by calculating the resonant frequencies of the system with which the present invention is utilized. The Wien bridge elements comprise, in essence, notch filters which may be tuned to the natural frequency of the servo system so that such frequencies are suppressed, thereby preventing instability in the system.

The push-pull outputs of wein bridge 402 are connected through isolating resistors 404 and 406 respectively, and contacts 408 and 410 respectively of switch 412 to the input grids of dual triodes 414 and 416 which serve to amplify the essentially DC error voltage applied to the inputs thereof. The anodes of triodes 414 and 416 are connected through a reversing switch 418 to a center tapped servo valve solenoid coil 420. It will thus be seen that the A and B pulses are algebraically added at junction 354, whereas the inverse or pulses of opposite polarity are algebraically added at junction 364, and the results of these additions are applied to opposed, balanced circuits in push-pull fashion. Therefore, when voltage at one junction increases, the voltage at the other is decreasing, with the net result that the servo valve is moved rapidly from a balanced to an unbalanced condition due to the push-pull action of these circuits.

Switch 412 may be thrown so as to engage contacts 422 and 424 and thus disconnect dual triodes 414 and 416 from the sensing and control circuits. A source of external voltage, such as a bridge circuit, may be connected to contacts 422 and 424 to provide independent, external control of servo valve solenoid 420. In this manner, movable member may be controlled directly by means of such an externally applied voltage.

The cathodes of dual triodes 414 and 416 are connected in conventional fashion to ground through a pair of resistors 426, 428, potentiometer 430, and resistor 432 connected to the movable arm of potentiometer 430. Static balance of the servo amplifier may be achieved by adjusting potentiometer 430.

Anti-jog circuit Referring again to FIG. 4, it will be noted that during the record cycle, as the angular position of switch shaft 16 progresses from zero towards 360 degrees indicating movement of movable member 10, there is a sharp transition point at the 360 degree position. The length of the on period of the encoder pulse output wave changes from the maximum of three-quarters to the minimum of one-quarter length at this point. This transition, of course, occurs at the position where switch 70 changes from an on to an off position, allowing all of the reference pulses 59a to pass through gate 48 (FIG. 1) during the recording cycle.

It will be remembered that during the switch off periods all of the reference pulses forming pulse train 59a are passed by gate 48 (FIG. 3). Also, due to the inherent operation of the switch in relation to the reference and information pulses at the transition point, the very next reference pulse is necessarily spaced one-quarter of a period from the last information pulse. Since this reference pulse is the one which turns off encoder flip-flop 66, the output Wave form 68 of the encoder then suddenly jumps to a train of pulses having an on time of no greater than one-quarter of a period.

Before this transition occurs, wherein the reference pulse suddenly changes position by an amount equal to one-half period, all of the reference pulses are approximately equally spaced. At the instant of transition, there is suddenly either a foreshortened or a lengthened time interval between reference pulses. The shortened interval would be reduced to one-half the normal spacing, whereas the lengthened interval would be equal to one and onehalf time the normal spacing, depending on the direction in which movable member 10 is moving.

As the reference pulse during the playback cycle marks the beginning of an A pulse, the result of this transition in period length is that either an extra A pulse occurs at this point or an A pulse is missing. Since the signal ultimately fed to the servo valve amplifier 120 is substantially a DC voltage, the result of integrating the (A B) pulses as explained above, the sudden loss of an A pulse or addition of an extra A pulse will cause a sharp change in the averaging function performed by the integrating circuits and manifest itself in the form of a transient pulse or sharp dip in the DC level of the signal fed to the servo amplifier 120. This, of course, will cause the servo valve, controlling movable member 10, to pulse or jog the member 10, or otherwise cause it to move in a jerking manner. This effect may be seen in FIG. 7, a moving pulse diagram.

In line I, an arbitrary on-off time for gate switch 70 is illustrated. In line II, the occurrence of reference pulses is indicated by solid lines, and those which are gated out are bracketed by dotted lines. Line III shows the occurrence of information pulses under conditions of movement of member 10. The gated out information pulses are also surrounded by dotted brackets. Line IV shows the resultant reconstruction flip-flop output wave form 102. It will be noted that its on time is gradually shortened from substantially three-quarters of a period in length to almost one-quarter of a period. At point IVa, it suddenly jumps again to a full three-quarter period.

Line V shows a train of B pulses, foreshortened in length, to illustrate the result thereon of error between information and actual position pulses I, I The error is shown in dotted outline.

During high velocity movements of member 10, the B pulses will be spaced slightly greater in period, due to the Doppler effect of the moving machine resolver output, resulting in frequency modulation of the B pulses with fast movement. However, as such modulation has negligible effect on the operation of the system, it is not shown in FIG. 7. Line V then illustrates the spacing of B pulses during normal velocities of movable member 10.

Line VI illustrates a train of A pulses which, at point VIa, have their spacing therebetween suddenly increased to one-and-one-half times the normal interval. Line VII shows the DC signal resulting from the averaging of (AB) but without jog compensation.

The slowly varying DC average signal, the servo error signal, is representative of the normal servo error due to the foreshortening and change in spacing of the B pulses as mentioned above. In the case of the frequency shift in B pulses, the resulting effect is a slight bias in error voltage which disappears when member 10 becomes stationary. However, in the case of the sudden shift in spacing of the A pulses, the result is a large and sudden decrease in the average signal output, as shown at point VIIa, due to the jog effect.

Referring again to FIG. 6, elimination of the jogging effect is provided by connecting capacitor 434 and re sistor 436 in series with each other and in series with terminal 354 and one output terminal of reconstruction flip-flop 94. A like capacitor and resistor 438 and 440 are also connected in series and to terminal 364 and the other output terminal of reconstruction flip-flop 94. A like capacitor and resistor 438 and 440 are also connected in series and to terminal 364 and the other output terminal of reconstruction flip-fiop 94.

The resistor-capacitor combinations serve to differentiate the' reconstruction flip-flop, pulse output wave train 102. The differentiating pulses are fed to each junction point 354, 364 with a differentiated pulse occurring in time correspondence with the leading and trailing edges of the pulses forming wave train 102. These differentiated pulses can be considered as a superposition onto the A and B pulses of differentiated, individual I and R pulses comprising the output signal of tape reconstruction flipflop 94.

Referring again to FIG. 7, the relationships between the differentiated pulses of wave train 102 and the partially filtered A and B pulses are shown on lines VIII, DC and X. Positive A pulses, after partial integration, are shown on line VIII while positive B pulses, after partial integration, are shown on line IX. To simplify the description, the integration of full B pulses, without error modification, are shown on line IX, and following lines.

On line VIII, the loss of DC level due to the missing A pulse, is indicated at point VIIIa. The partially integrated B pulses are shown in positive position, although in operation they are subtracted from the A pulses by adding the corresponding negative or reversed phase B pulses thereto. The results of subtracting the B from the A pulses, i.e., the algebraic addition of line VIII to line IX, is shown on line X. The dip in DC levels is shown in this line at point Xa. The wave forms resulting from the differentiating of the pulses of wave train 162 are shown in line XI as pulses 444.

The differentiating elements of the circuits comprising anti-jog circuits 124, 126 are adjusted so that the total quantum of energy represented by the volt-time quantities of pulses 444, delivered by the circuits 124, 126 to junction points 354, 356, is equal in amount and opposite in polarity respectively, to the total quantum of energy comprising either an A or a B pulse. This is shown in line XI, wherein pulses 444 are shown reduced in voltage amplitude by a factor of 2, to provide the proper compensating energy quantums. When this adjustment is made, the quantum of energy at occurring point XIa on line XI would be equal to the amount of energy which would normally be contributed to points 354, 364 respectively, if an A pulse were present. Thus, the negative going dip in DC level at point Xa is effectively filled in by the excess positive energy area occurring at point XIa. The excess positive area at point XIa compensates for the deficiency in the (A-B) wave form, resulting in substantially uniform output over the A pulse transition point.

The excess negative excursion of wave form 446 at point XIIa is shown as being substantially reduced. The resultant output wave form resulting from the addition of line X to line XI is shown as pulse wave form 446 of line XII. This pulse wave output is then integrated by potentiometers 390, 392, resistor 394 and capacitor 396, FIG. 6, as described above, to provide a jog free, DC voltage for servo amplifier 120.

It will be understood that a similar set of pulse curves may be drawn for the algebraic addition of (A-B) occurring at junction point 364, where the opposite polarity of the anti-jog signal provided by anti-jog circuit 126 is applied. Of course, the output of junction 364 is integrated in the same manner as just described by the integrator components-potentiometers 390, 392, resistor 394 and capacitor 396.

It will also be understood that a transition occurs when movable member is moving in the opposite direction from the example just described. This is a situation where the on time of the reconstruction flip-flop pulses 162 suddenly changes from a three-quarter to a onequarter period, resulting in a temporary increase in the DC value of the (A -B) signal at point Xa. In this case, the anti-jog circuits 124, 126 produce an excess negative area at point XIa so that again the output remains uniform over the transition point.

The anti-jog circuits 124, 126 perform the same function as additional filters. Since the wave forms of pulse train 442 have quantums of energy equal to but opposite in polarity to those of the A and B pulses, the algebraic addition of these pulses thereto tends to counteract and suppress the basic fundamental harmonic of the (A B) combination, i.e., the 250 cycle content thereof. The result tends to have only a higher harmonic frequency content as can be seen practically by inspection of curve XII of FIG. 7. Because the fundamental ripple frequency is suppressed by the anti-jog circuit action, the magnitude of the circuit components comprising the second filter need not be as great as would be needed without the harmonic suppression feature. Thus, the danger of excessive filtering, which would tend to slow down the response and degrade the performance of the servo system, is eliminated by the present invention.

' In operation of the system just described, switches 23, 73 and 222 are first placed in the record position. Next,

movable member 19 is manually guided through a desired series of movements along a selected path of travel to develop a program of selected operations. When the present invention is used with an automatic transfer machine such as disclosed in co-pending application S.N. 43,090, it is preferable to manipulate member 10 by means of an associated, manually controlled servo mechanism. As member 10 is guided through its program of movements, the instruction signal 68, representative of the history of these movements and the instantaneous position of member 10 is chronologically recorded by means of recorder 71.

To cause member 10 to repeat the desired program, it is only necessary to place switches 23, 73 and 222 into their playback positions. After the recording medium, preferably magnetic tape, is rewound or otherwise placed in a playback condition, the playback portion of the recorder is actuated and instruction signal 68 is read out from recorder 71 into the playback circuitry in the manner described above. It is accordingly translated into a first comparison signal, compared with a second comparison signal generated by the circuits associated with movable member 10 during playback, the two comparison signals algebraically added, and the results in the form of an error signal fed to servo mechanism 122, which causes movable member 10 to move until the error signal is nulled.

It will be appreciated that instruction signal 68 comprises a repetitive, two valued instruction signal having a predetermined cycling period, which two values may be on and off portions of signal 68, with the ratio of the time duration of the two values varying between predetermined limits in response to changes in the instantaneous relative position of the movable member.

Therefore the various signals controlling the recording and playback functions may be derived from a signal source oscillating at any suitable operating frequency. This is possible since the time ratio between the discrete values of the instruction signal will remain fixed regardless of the frequency at which they are generated. A major advantage of the present invention is that movable member 10 may be guided through its selected movements at a relatively slow velocity, but caused to repeat such movements during playback merely by increasing the playback speed of recorder 71. Thus, the program of movements may be speeded up or slowed down at will, without omitting any of the selected steps of a program.

Resolver switch eliminator For purposes of simplifying the description of the invention, the inhibition and pass areas set up about information pulses 62 were shown as being defined by operation of a mechanical switch 70 driven by shaft 16 on movable member 16, and having a pair of contacts which control the operability of gate 48 of chann l A. However, as mechanical contacts are subject to wear and pitting, which may eventually result in unstable operation and consequently poor definition of the inhibit and pass areas, it is desirable to define these areas electronically. Thus, in accordance with a modification of the record section of the invention shown in FIG. 8, mechanical switch 70 is eliminated. In order to simplify the drawings, the playback circuiting has been omitted, as it remains unchanged from the embodiment just described.

In particular, secondary winding 202 of resolver 18, which is driven by shaft 16 on movable member 10, is connected to squaring amplifier 26 of the Schmitt trigger type as before. The Schmitt trigger squaring amplifier 26 is connected to and operates flip-flop frequency divider circuit 50 as in the embodiment previously described so that the output signal 53 of sealer or frequency divider 50 has a frequency of one-half of the output of squaring amplifier 26. v

The inverted output signal of squaring amplifier 26 comprising pulse train 34, is fed through an isolating resistor 560 to a voltage divider comprised of resistors 503 and 504. The output signal of frequency divider 50 is fed through a diode 506 to junction terminal 502. Because of the polarity of diode 566, whenever the output signal 53 of frequency divider 50' goes negative, diode 506 serves to clamp junction terminal 502 to ground and effectively clips every other pulse of signal 34. When frequency divider signal 53 is in the positive direction, diode 506 does not conduct, thus allowing free passage of any signal appearing on junction point 502 to the grid of valve 508. As described previously in connection with FIG. 3, and the operation of gate B, wave form 56 is formed with every other pulse substantially eliminated by frequency divider 50. However, in this modification the leading edges of each positive pulse are not rounded, but remain square.

The circuitry associated with electron valve 508 is connected as a cathode follower, with an output signal being developed across resistor 510 which is connected between the cathode of valve 508 and ground. The purpose of the cathode follower arrangement is to furnish a low impedance signal source to the input of flip-flop encoder circuit 66, which is the same as described in connection with FIG. 6. The signal output developed across cathode resistor 510 is in the same phase as wave train 56 and is transmitted through isolating resistor 512, and serially connected diode 514 to the input of encoder 66. The polarity connections of diode 514 allow a positive going signal, developed across resistor 510 to turn on encoder 66. However, when the voltage across cathode resistor 510 begins to decrease in the negative direction, diode 514 is cut off and no longer passes a signal to encoder 66. The encoder then remains in the state as just previously established.

The output wave form 44, comprising pulses with rounded leading edges, derived from reference resolver 24 and squaring amplifier 28, connected as described heretofore, is amplified by valve 516 and passed through coupling capacitor 518 to junction terminal 520, to which diode 514 is connected. Coupling capacitor 528 differentiates the pulses appearing at the output of valve 516. It will be noted that there is no frequency division of the pulses forming wave form 44. Accordingly, the wave train appearing at junction 520, as passed by capacitor 518, has the form of wave form 64a, as shown in FIG. 3. These pulses then, are the reference pulses and since they are negative going they will turn off flip-flop encoder circuit 66 which, it will be recalled, remains in an on state having once been turned on by the positive pulse from wave form 56.

It will be noted that wave form 56 is not differentiated as heretofore. Therefore, each positive portion is one quarter period in length. During this one quarter on period, the impedance at junction terminal 520, which is very low, is substantially the output impedance of the cathode follower circuit comprising valve 508 and 510. If negative pulses from pulse train 64a should appear during the positive on time at junction terminal 520, they will not be passed to encoder 66 as they originate from a high impedance source which includes capacitor 518, and the output impedance of electron valve 516. This high impedance source is effectively short circuited by the low impedance occurring at terminal 520, when diode 514 is in a conducting state. Thus, during the time that the encoder is receiving a positive pulse input from valve 508 which is always one quarter of a period in length, it cannot be turned off. However, it will be turned off by the first negative reference pulse occurring in time after the end of the positive on period.

Thus, when shaft 16 is moving, due to the shift in phase between reference and command pulses in response to such movement, a time occurs during which one of the reference pulses emerges just at the end of the holding period established by wave form 56. In this instance, the on time of the output signal 68 of encoder 66 will be very short. As the phase shift progresses, the encoder pulse will become increasingly longer until it reaches the three quarter period length. At this point, the next negative pulse of pulse train 64a is just emerging beyond the holding period. Accordingly, that pulse takes over command of the encoder and snaps it back into the quarter period situation just described. Thus, it will be seen that the desired conditions of a minimum duty cycle of a quarter of a period, and a maximum duty cycle of three quarters of a period for the encoder output signal 66, is fulfilled.

The situation occasionally arises where the relative position between the movable resolver and the reference resolver is such that the turn 0 pulse 64a just straddles the period where its passage through the electronic gate established by the on period of pulse wave form 56 is indeterminate. This may result in erratic operation of the encoder wherein it would be turned off for a few cycles, and then on, and thus, oscillating back and forth, would produce a few quarter period cycles followed by several three quarter period cycles.

To prevent this occurrence, a feedback system is povided wherein the encoder output is averaged, its DC level is detected, and the DC is fed back into the balance control of the movable resolver squaring amplifier 26. The DC level so derived is proportional to the on period of the encoder. Therefore, if the encoder output pulses are short, indicating that reference pulses have just cleared the holding period, then by feeding back the derived DC signal from the encoder 66 into the balance control, the squaring time, i.e., the time that squaring amplifier 26 begins to square the output signal pulses of resolver 18, will be slightly shortened. This will slightly decrease the gating or holding period, and thus insure that the reference pulses which turn off encoder 66, once they have occurred after the end of the holding period, will stay outside of this period.

On the other hand, once the first turn off pulse lies within the gating or on holding period, resulting in a longer encoder pulse output, the DC voltage associated with the integration of such longer pulses will be fed back into the input of squaring amplifier 26 and will thus make the squaring pulses slightly longer in length. In this manner, it serves to cause the encoder to maintain a three quarter period once it has been initiated.

Referring to FIG. 8, the DC feedback voltage is derived as follows: A resistor 522 is connected to one output terminal of encoder 66 and to the junction terminal 524 of balance potentiometer 210, which serves to adjust the bias of the Schmitt trigger circuit of squaring amplifier 26. Capacitors 214 and 526 in conjunction with resistors 208, 210 and 212, provide an integrating or averaging action on the encoder signal output so that a DC bias voltage is derived therefrom and transmitted through the secondary of winding 202 of resolver 18 to the input of squaring amplifier 26. The DC voltage developed at junction 524 is in opposition to the normal bias voltage developed by voltage divider resistors 206, 268, 210 and 212. When the voltage appearing at junction 524 decreases, the sine wave output of resolver 18 must rise to a higher level before it is able to trip the Schmitt circuit of amplifier 26, and on the negative portion of the sine wave it will trip the Schmitt circuit sooner. This will result in a shorter duty cycle of squaring amplifier 26 whereas an increase in the voltage appearing at junction 524 will cause a longer duty cycle in the Schmitt circuit of squaring amplifier 26. Thus, by changing the DC bias at terminal 524, and by averaging the output of encoder 66, the positive on period of the pulses of Wave form 56 is varied in such a manner as to increase the clearance time of the pulses, or for pulses which have not clear, it will aid in making such pulses stay even longer within the gating period.

I claim:

ll. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising first means for generating a pair of pulses having a time spacing therebetween representative of the selected position of said movable member, second means driven by said movable member coupled to vary the time spacing between said pair of pulses, third means coupled to shift the spacing between said pair of pulses a fixed amount to maintain the spacing between said pulses within predetermined maximum and minimum limits, and means fed by said third means for deriving a signal having a characteristic varying in response to said variations in said time spacing between said pulses.

2. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising first means to generate a plurality of reference pulses occurring at equal intervals and effective to establish a reference time interval therebetween, second means to generate an information pulse representative of a selected position of said movable member during said reference time interval, and third means fed by said first and second means to generate a double value signal having a repetitive cycling period defined by the time spacing between successive reference pulses, whereby the ratio of the time durations of each value is variable and determined by the occurrence of an information pulse from said second means during said reference time interval, the ratio of said values being representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member.

3. The invention defined in claim 2 wherein said double value signal generated by said third means has finite, predetermined maximum and minimum time ratio limits, and fourth means fed by said third means effective whenever one of said limits is exceeded, to shift said ratio from the exceeded t the unexceeded limit.

4. The invention defined in claim 2 wherein the pulses from said first means occurs at a first selected frequency and wherein the pulses from said second means occurs at a second selected frequenc inhibiting means coupled to inhibit transmission of any of said pulses of said second selected frequency which fall within the inhibiting area established about said pulses of said first selected frequency.

5. The invention defined in claim 4 wherein said first selected frequency is an integral multiple of said selected frequency.

6. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising, first means to generate a plurality of reference pulses occurring at equal intervals and effective to establish a ref erecne time interval therebetween, second means to generate an information pulse representative of a selected position of said movable member during said reference time interval, third means fed by said first and second means to generate a third signal having a repetitive cycling period formed of variable length on and off portions, said cycling period being defined by the time spacing between successive reference pulses, the length of said on and off portions being defined by the occurrence of said discrete information pulse during said reference time interval, whereby one of said portions is representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member.

7. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member moving along a selected path of travel comprising first means to generate a plurality of reference pulses occurring at equal intervals and effective to establish a reference time interval therebetween, said interval being representative of an arbitrary increment of a selected path of travel of said movable member, second means to generate a plurality of information pulses occurring at equal intervals and representative of a selected poistion of said movable member during each of said reference time intervals, third means fed by said first and second means for deriving a third pulse signal of variable length, the boundaries of said length being determined by one of said reference pulses and one of said information pulses, said length being representative of the instantaneous relative position of 24 said movable member within said increment of said selected path of travel of said movable member.

8. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising first means to generate a lurality of reference pulses of a first polarity occurring at equal intervals and effective to establish a reference time interval therebetween, second means to generate at least one information pulse of a second polarity representative of a selected position of said movable member during said reference time interval and operative to vary in phase with respect to said reference pulses in response to the movement of said movable member, and third means fed by said first and second means to generate a third signal having a repetitive cycling period formed of variable length on and off portions, said cycling period being defined by the time spacing between successive reference pulses, the commencement of said on portion being defined by the reception of said third means of a reference pulse of said first polarity from said first means and the termination of said on portion and commencement of said off portion being defined by the reception by said third means of a next occurring information pulse of said second polarity from said second means during an associated reference time interval, Whereby the length of said on portion is representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member.

9. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising first means to generate a plurality of reference pulses of a first polarity occurring at equal intervals and effective to establish a reference time interval therebetween, second means to generate at least one information pulse of a second polarity representative of a selected position of said movable member during said reference time interval and operative to vary in phase with respect to said reference pulses in response to the movement of said movable member, third means fed by said first and second means to generate a third signal having a repetitive cycling period formed of variable length on and off" portions, said cycling period being defined by the time spacing between successive reference pulses, the commencement of said on portion being defined by the reception by said third means of a reference pulse of said first polarity from said first means and the termination of said on portion and commencement of said off portion being defined by the reception by said third means of a next occurring information pulse of said second polarity from said second means during an associated reference time interval, whereby the length of said on portion is representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member, and pulse inhibiting means for establishing predetermined time boundaries about each pulse having one of said polarities, said inhibiting means coupled to inhibit transmission of pulses having the other of said polarities which occur during said predetermined time boundaries, thereby preventing coincidence cancellation between pulses of said first and second polarities.

10. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising first means to generate a plurality of reference pulses occurring at equal intervals and effective to establish a reference time interval therebetween, econd means to generate at least one information pulse representative of a selected position of said movable member during each of said reference time intervals, third means fed by said first and second means to generate a double value pulse signal having a repetitive cycling period defined by the time spacing between successive reference pulses, the ratio of the time durations of each value being variable, said ratio being determined by the occurrence of said discrete information pulse during said reference time interval, whereby the ratio of said value is representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member, and pulse inhibiting means for establishing predetermined time boundaries about each pulse gene-rated by a selected one of said first and second means, said pulse inhibiting 25 means coupled to inhibit transmission of pulses from the other of said pulse generating means which occur during said predetermined time boundaries, thereby preventing time coincidence between any of said reference and information pulses.

11. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous positionof a movable member comprising first means to generate a plurality of reference pulses occurring at equal intervals and eflective to establish a reference time interval therebetween, second means to generate at least one information pulse representative of a selected position of said movable member during each of said reference time intervals, third means fed by said first and second means to generate a double value signal having a repetitive cycling period defined by the time spacing between successive reference pulses, the ratio of the time durations of each value being variable, the pulses from said first means occurring at a first selected frequency and the pulses from said second means occurring at a second selected frequency, pulse inhibiting means for establishing predetermined time boundaries about each pulse having said first selected frequency, said pulse inhibiting means being operative to inhibit transmission of any of said pulses of said second frequency from said second means which fall within the inhibiting area established about said pulses of said first frequency from said first means, and means for establishing said time ratio for said double values by the time spacing between said pulses of said first selected frequency and the occurrence of the next occurring pulse of said second frequency beyond said inhibit area, whereby the ratio of said values is representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member.

12. The invention defined in claim 11 including means operative in response to selected positions of said movable member coupled to said pulse inhbiting means to inhibit pulses occurring within the inhibition time area.

13. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising, first pulse generating means to generate a plurality of reference pulses occurring at a selected frequency, second pulse generating means to generate information pulses at a second selected frequency representative of a selected position of said movable member, third means interposed between said second pulse generating means and said movable member for shifting the phase of said information pulses in response to the movement of said movable member, first pulse transmission channel fed by said first pulse generating means, second pulse transmission channel fed by said second pulse generating means, first signal gating means fed by said first pulse transmission channel, second signal gating means fed by said second pulse transmission channel, means coupled to feed by said first and second signal gating means to periodically open and close said gates, means driven by said movable member to selectively actuate one of said gates to maintain said gate in an open position so that ungated pulses are freely transmitted through the channel associated therewith, and means connected to receive the outputs of said channels to generate a double value signal having a repetitive cycling period defined by the time spacing between successive pulses generated by one of said pulse generating means, the ratio of the time duration of each value being variable, said ratio being defined by the time spacing between pulses from one of said channels and the occurrence of the next succeeding, ungated pulse transmitted by said other channel to said double value signal generating means, whereby the ratio of said values is representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member.

14. The invention defined in claim 13 wherein the frequency of pulses from said first pulse generating means is an integral multiple of said information pulse frequency from said second pulse generating means, and wherein 26 said periodic gate opening and closing means operates at the frequency of said reference pulses.

15. Apparatus for generating a signal representative of the instantaneous position of a movable member comprising first means to generate a plurality of reference pulses of a first polarity occurring at equal intervals and effective to establish a reference time interval therebetween, second means to generate at least one information pulse of a second polarity representative of a selected position of said movable member during said reference time interval and operative to vary in phase with respect to said reference pulses in response to the movement of said movable member, an encoder fed by said first and second pulse signal generating means and having first and second input and output terminals, said encoder being effective to generate a third signal having a repetitive cycling period formed of variable length on and off portions, said repetitive cycling period being defined by the time spacing between successive pulses of one of said polarities, the commencement of said on portion being defined by recepiton by said third signal generating means of one of said pulses of a selected polarity and the termination of said on portion and commencement of said off portion being defined by the reception of said encoder of a next succeeding pulse of an opposite polarity during said cycling time interval, whereby the length of said on portion is representative of the instantaneous relative position of said movable member, and pulse inhibiting means coupled to establish predetermined time boundaries about each pulse of one of said selected polarities, said pulse inhibiting means being operative to inhibit transmission of pulses having the opposite polarity which occur during said predetermined time boundaries, said inhibiting means comprising a diode serially coupled between the first input terminal of said encoder and said first means, a low impedance coupled between the input to said diode and the second terminal of said encoder to provide said first means with a low impedance output, means coupled to normally bias said diode to a nonconductin condition, high impedance means interposed between said pulse generator of pulses to be inhibited and said first terminal of said encoder, said inhibitable pulses being adapted to turn said encoder 011, and means coupled to receive pulses from said low impedance pulse generating means for biasing said diode in a conducting condition to allow pulses from said low impedance pulse generating means to pass to said encoder and turn said encoder on, said low impedance being effective when said diode conducts to prevent transmission of pulses from said high impedance source to said encoder, thereby establishing an on time for said encoder having at least the time duration of said pulses from said low impedance pulse generating source.

16. The invention defined in claim 15 including pulse integrating means interposed between said encoder and said low impedance output of said first means, said integrating means having a signal output proportional to the integrated on time portion of the output signal from said encoder, said integrated signal being operative to vary the duty cycle of the pulses from said low impedance pulse generator in response to variations in said integrated signal, whereby erratic operation of said inhibiting means is prevented, when said off pulses for said encoder output signal occur close to said time boundaries.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,206,616 9/1965 Webb 328134 XR ARTHUR GAUSS, Primary Examiner S. T. KRAWCZEWICZ, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

